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Probing spectral features of quantum many-body systems with quantum simulators

Author

Listed:
  • Jinzhao Sun

    (University of Oxford
    Imperial College London)

  • Lucia Vilchez-Estevez

    (University of Oxford)

  • Vlatko Vedral

    (University of Oxford)

  • Andrew T. Boothroyd

    (University of Oxford)

  • M. S. Kim

    (Imperial College London)

Abstract

The efficient probing of spectral features is important for characterising and understanding the structure and dynamics of quantum materials. In this work, we establish a framework for probing the excitation spectrum of quantum many-body systems with quantum simulators. Our approach effectively realises a spectral detector by processing the dynamics of observables with time intervals drawn from a defined probability distribution, which only requires native time evolution governed by the Hamiltonian without ancilla. The critical element of our method is the engineered emergence of frequency resonance such that the excitation spectrum can be probed. We show that the time complexity for transition energy estimation has a logarithmic dependence on simulation accuracy and how such observation can be guaranteed in certain many-body systems. We discuss the noise robustness of our spectroscopic method and show that the total running time maintains polynomial dependence on accuracy in the presence of device noise. We further numerically test the error dependence and the scalability of our method for lattice models. We present simulation results for the spectral features of typical quantum systems, either gapped or gapless, including quantum spins, fermions and bosons. We demonstrate how excitation spectra of spin-lattice models can be probed experimentally with IBM quantum devices.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinzhao Sun & Lucia Vilchez-Estevez & Vlatko Vedral & Andrew T. Boothroyd & M. S. Kim, 2025. "Probing spectral features of quantum many-body systems with quantum simulators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-55955-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-55955-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Efekan Kökcü & Heba A. Labib & J. K. Freericks & A. F. Kemper, 2024. "A linear response framework for quantum simulation of bosonic and fermionic correlation functions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Philip Richerme & Zhe-Xuan Gong & Aaron Lee & Crystal Senko & Jacob Smith & Michael Foss-Feig & Spyridon Michalakis & Alexey V. Gorshkov & Christopher Monroe, 2014. "Non-local propagation of correlations in quantum systems with long-range interactions," Nature, Nature, vol. 511(7508), pages 198-201, July.
    3. P. Jurcevic & B. P. Lanyon & P. Hauke & C. Hempel & P. Zoller & R. Blatt & C. F. Roos, 2014. "Quasiparticle engineering and entanglement propagation in a quantum many-body system," Nature, Nature, vol. 511(7508), pages 202-205, July.
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